Business
15:41, 04-Jul-2017
Booming e-commerce in Russia on Chinese platform
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By CGTN's Hu Nan
In 2016, China was the biggest supply country of cross-border e-commerce trading in Russia, taking 52 percent of Russia's total orders made online, while America and the Europe took 12 percent and 23 percent respectively, according to a market research report released by eMarketer.
The biggest e-commerce platform in Russia is AliExpress, a global online shopping platform by China's Alibaba Group.
Russian-speaking countries, on the other hand, are the best performing market for AliExpress. At least half a million orders will be made online each day, and the number may soar up to over 10 million on November 11, or the "Double Eleven Day", which was promoted as the shopping carnival day by Alibaba Group.
Top 15 retail E-commerce sites in Russia. Source: eMarketer
Top 15 retail E-commerce sites in Russia. Source: eMarketer
Not a single logistics company in Russia could handle such amount of parcels alone. It is a challenge for the country's logistics capacity, transportation and infrastructure network, customs system and many other fields. But it'll certainly speed up the economic development of both countries.
However, the success is only the first step. AliExpress has a bigger goal than selling "Made in China" products to Russia.
According to Shen Difan, general manager of Russian market in AliExpress, their team has shifted focus in Russia to "localization," such as providing localized customer services as well as helping Russian companies sell their products on the platform. Eventually, Russian companies will join in the global market like their Chinese counterparts.
Road show of AliExpress in Moscow. Photo courtesy of AliExpress.
Road show of AliExpress in Moscow. Photo courtesy of AliExpress.
China has been Russia's top trading partner for six years in a row, and Russia remains a major crude oil and heavy hi-tech equipment exporter to China. But the interest in goods for daily lives becomes the new driving force for bilateral trading. That's an outcome of the booming online shopping in Russia, as well as the frequent meeting of the leaders of the two countries.
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